," if someone suddenly shows up with my long lost brother back in the audience, all bets are off, folks. i am enormously grateful for the generous comments of the chair and the ranking member. thank you very much. thank you for your tremendous cooperation over the course of the last years. i will tell you i enjoyed chairing this committee and working with all of you as much as anything i have been privileged to do in my career. i think this is one of the great committees of the senate and it is the only major committee i have served on every single day since i arrived here in 1985. as you know, the committee carries special responsibilities for the security of our nation and i thank each and every one of you for the serious consideration you have brought to challenging issues and for the incredible cooperation i have received as chairman. if confirmed, i look forward to continuing to work closely with all of you as we tackle some very tough problems. and i particularly welcome the new members in that regard. i am grateful for president obama for nominating me. i am very grateful to secretary
